Mike Winger put a video on Youtube that addresses the question on whether Pastors who have fallen morally should be restored to ministry. It is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlmF6pLZJE. He brings up numerous issues (13 in all) that should be addressed when it comes to this issue. I found it interesting and relevant. His answer of …
Month: November 2024
Is Reading Other People’s Sermons THAT Interesting?
Looking over 2024 stats, I noticed something rather odd. Two of the top three posts I have are sermons. My initial reaction is one of shock. I mean, I never read other people's sermons. I have opened up a couple of books of sermons of famous preachers. Sure, they may have been amazing to experience …
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Who From History Would I Like to Talk To… if that was even remotely possible?
WordPress likes to keep bloggers... blogging. They do this in part by asking a new question every day. Almost never do I answer the question. Part of that is because I think they are primarily focusing on people who use their website like a diary, log, or scrapbook. Nevertheless, occasionally there is a question that …
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Story— Man in a Hole
It was a cold day to be at the cemetery. Slowly melting snow was still on the ground, as threatening clouds approached. Others who had come for Fred's interment had already hurried off to attend the wake in the basement of Fred's church. Sam and Arnold were the only two remaining, standing over the hole …
The Cross and the Three-Fold Task of the Missionary
Max Warren, 1904-1977, served long as the General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society. He wrote considerably on inter-religious dialogue, and mission theology, among others. He believed in the three-fold task of the missionary. I assume he drew it from the three-fold task of Jesus in Matthew 4:23 "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their …
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Defining Precise Limits on God’s Grace?
I teach Cultural Anthropology, Inter-religious Dialogue, and Contemporary Issues in Missions. Note that none of these are standard theology courses. So you would be right to think that I am not the most meticulous and studied Christian theologian out there. That being said, those three courses keep bringing up certain questions... and these questions are …
Quote by Peter Illyn– Evangelical Enviromentalist
I am teaching a course, "Foundations of Holistic Ministry," at Seminary. This week, we are going to talk a bit about ecological concerns and ministry. Therefore, I thought I would quote a bit of Peter Illyn (1958-2020). I will state my bias. That a concern for the common good trumps the pursuit of personal freedom, …
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Problems with Christian Cliches
I don't want to "bury the lead" on this one. Two problems with Christian cliches (that I am prepared to talk about at least) are: --- Christian cliches have just enough truth to them to attract people to them to explain complex theological things. (These cliches, however, can't support the complexity of the issue.) --- …
Good, Bad, and Really Bad Missions Slogans
I was recently reading "Paradigms in Conflict, 2nd ed.: 15 Key Questions in Christian Missions Today" by David Hesselgrave. On page 259, a section was include on a list of missions slogans compiled by Todd Johnson of the World Evangelism Research Center. Here they are: 1900-- "The evangelization of the world in this generation." 1910-- …
Affirm and Inspire— and One of the Most Important Letters I Don’t Remember Writings
The other day, yesterday in fact, my wife and I were leading a seminar at a church in Baguio City, Philippines. There were between 30 and 40 people there--- perhaps 1/3 of them were people we knew. One we definitely know is Roland (I am using a pseudonym here, meaning that the one thing you …
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